Section 218 aka “FISA: It’s everywhere you don’t want to be”

Section 218 amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a “bargain” struck in 1978 wherein the usual requirements for a police search—probable cause to believe a criminal act had occurred and a warrant—would be unnecessary in a teeny, tiny number of cases. That teeny, tiny number of cases just expanded dramatically.

What it does: Secret searches can now be authorized by a secret court without public knowledge or Department of Justice accountability, so long as the government can allege there is any foreign intelligence basis for the search.

Continue reading A Guide to the Patriot Act

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